Thanksgiving with all the Grandparents!

For Thanksgiving this year, Grandpa & Grandma and Nana & Papa all flew in for Ethan's baptism. The Williams came on Monday evening, and the Morellos came on Wednesday. We spent a lot of time cooking and cleaning up, but we also squeezed in some fun.

THURSDAY

The Meal - I made most of the food in advance, so we mostly had to just reheat things. The biggest mishap was that I accidentally let the plastic bag around our pre-smoked turkey touch the top of the heated oven when sliding it in to reheat it. It made a nasty smell, and when we went to broil the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes several hours later, pieces of plastic rained down. Luckily, Nana carefully plucked each piece off, and we kept the whole mishap as hush-hush as possible. 

Riverwalk - After the meal and some down-time, we headed downtown to see the Christmas lights on the Riverwalk. We also took a boat ride just after dark. It was perfection! 

FRIDAY

Decorate for Christmas - I enlisted all our extra help to get our Christmas decorations up. My mom called my style "minimalist," which I'd never thought it was. Oh well, I guess when you are a tightwad and move every five years, you don't accumulate as much stuff! 

Dickens on Main in Boerne - That evening we headed to downtown Boerne for their Christmas festival. Ethan and Kate made button wreaths, and Grandma bought us all popcorn to share. Then we watched the ice carver. It was my favorite! 

SATURDAY

Ethan's baptism - Ethan was baptized on Saturday morning, and it was perfect (see prior post). Because of the special musical number, lots of this took place all week long. They played Come Follow Me. 

Ohio State v. Michigan football game - Much to all our shocks, OSU lost to Michigan this year. It's been many years since the last time that happened, so I guess we can't complain. 

You always know we've done a lot when Kate crashes. She took a good, long football nap. Good girl! 

SUNDAY

Sunday turned out to be eventful as well. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Ryan was extended the call to become a counselor in our Bishopric. So, this Sunday morning, he was able to be ordained a high priest by Papa, and my dad and a member of the stake presidency were able to be in the circle. It was a beautiful blessing, and it really was the capstone to a perfect family weekend. During sacrament meeting he was sustained, and immediately headed up to the stand. See ya in a few years, Babe!

My parents needed to leave for the airport right after sacrament meeting, but I was super short-staffed in Primary, so Nana & Papa came in to sit with the kids in singing time. Thank you! 

***

I am working full-time now as a 4th grade long-term substitute, so life is quite different nowadays. Things are all happening at lightning speed! Ryan was supposed to have to head to Houston on Wednesday to renew his passport so he can go to Germany next week, but Covid reared its ugly head again, and Europe has shutdown with a new variant called omicron. My car, the Expedition, has been in the shop for two weeks because it needed a new transmission. $$$ And they weren't even able to finish all the other problems with it, so it'll be back in the shop for another week during Christmas Break. Sigh. What a hassle.

It sure will be nice - after Christmas - for the world to turn a little slower! 

Ethan's 8!

Ethan celebrated his 8th birthday! 

The weekend before, Ryan took him and his friend Ayden to Urban Air. 

Afterwards, they went to Wendy's for lunch. They got burgers and Frostys. Then Ayden came over to the house to play with the Laser Tag set he'd gotten him. 

The following week, on his real birthday, we went to Sonic between his and Kate's soccer games. We had chocolate cake from HEB with Cookies Over Texas ice cream for dinner. He opened his present from us - two pop-its (one Pikachu & 1 Steve) and a new Lego set, Mandalorian. Our ministering brother, Bro Roming, got him a X-Wing Lego set. 

A month later - Thanksgiving weekend - Ethan was baptized. 

Nana & Papa flew in from Boise, and Grandpa & Grandma flew in from St George. 

Nana played a piano-duet with Collin with Ryan on the violin and gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Grandma gave a talk on baptism. Grandpa & Papa were the witnesses. I led the music, and Brennan & Katelyn said the prayers. It was quite the family affair!

Ethan's baptism was amazing! I felt the Spirit so strongly. We were mildly concerned that Ethan would - in an effort to curb anxiety - act wild and not take anything seriously. Much to my joy, he was super calm and mild, and I think he had a great experience too. Everything was simple and beautiful! 

Afterwards, we had Chick-fila catering (wraps and nuggets), fruit salad, lettuce salad, chips, and Texas sheet cake while we watched the OSU v Michigan football game. 

***

Ethan has changed a lot this last year. He is doing better and better with going to the bathroom when he needs to, even though he still sometimes doesn't and then lies about it. He is now in the Gifted & Talented Program because his math skills are out-of-this-world. On the other hand, his reading fluency and comprehension are still below grade-level, so he gets pull-out help for that as well. He's read a lot the Flat Stanley books, and he likes to listen to books by Andrew Clements. 

He spends much of any free time he might have either playing Minecraft or watching YouTube. He can be quite the screen-zombie. He still loves Lego, and when I tell him to get off his tablet, he heads upstairs to build a teeny, tiny flying contraption. 

We like to call him our Snack Elf. He still loves Nutella, and he'll dip just about anything in it - goldfish, Cheez-its, pretzels, etc. - much to his siblings' disgust. 

He is no longer the easy-going, flexible man he once was. I think he got tired of everyone - especially Kate - telling him what to do, and he regularly argues with most of the family. He used to always tell us that everything was "the best ever," but he definitely isn't the "always happy" boy he once was. I guess that's just part of growing up. 

Happy 8th, E!